broadening your dedication

The following are excerpts from an academic (electronic) discussion. Every single one of these eloquently spoken individuals understands the urgency of setting a course of change in our schools.

Who is it up to to follow the goals set forth by this group who have already defined the issues ten-fold times to each other and in print and in research in acdemic journals...

OKAY, let's say it is up to the parents...

WOW...what a great idea. Funny thing is--the parents have no way to understand as completely and astutely as these academics do WHAT EXACTLY THE ISSUES ARE AND WHAT EXACTLY THE FACTS AND SUPPORT OF THE ISSUES ARE....THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON...You read the Kaplan survey, you KNOW the reality of the media reports, you know the strength of the business community....

You educated and accomplished people who have devoted your careers to these issues now, have forgotten that you need to BRANCH OUT from your own captive and private clublike places and enter into the real world....

WELCOME TO THE FRONTLINES...welcome to ground zero.

I am asking, no pleading, in my following letter to give it a try back in the places that need your voices right now...Come home to the towns and cities that NEED YOUR VOICES, NEED YOUR KNOWLEDGE...You have already reached agreement among yourselves.....

Here are your words:

A campaign to get members to educate parents would be a good
idea - some of that has probably been done. But that also leads to, what
will people do? It is a lot easier to get people to pay attention if they
believe there is action connected to it - otherwise it is often just
depressing or overwhelming.

Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 15:43:49 -0600
arn2-strategy
Subject: How to Talk to Parents About NCLB

We need to spend more time on helping teachers take appropriate action
against NCLB. The problem is, of course, that they risk being fired.
Ultimately, I believe teachers need to educate parents on the facts of
NCLB. It's up to parents to get pissed off and take action in relation
to administrators, school board members, and state legislators.

With that in mind, how about putting together a kit for teachers on
"How to Talk to Parents About NCLB"? It would provide suggestions for
communication strategies as well as specific language they can use to
talk about the law without getting into trouble.

Thoughts?

Peter

Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 18:18:10 -0500
Subject: Re: [ARN-state] How to Talk to Parents About NCLB


I would start from various existing things:

FairTest has 1 and 2-page fact sheets on our website.

PURE in Chicago combined some of their stuff with FairTest stuff into a
packet.

Harvard Civil Rights project has a guide - dvd/VHS and booklet - not sure
they have anything short.

Advancement project has stuff. PEN has OK descriptive stuff but lacks
critical analysis. Center for Community Change.

NEA probably has stuff - could look at their website.

I think NCTE does as well.

In short, there is a lot of stuff out there; perhaps none perfect - but much
I would say that is pretty good and pretty accessible, ranging from very
short things that get those without deep interest, to progressively more
detailed and complex materials for those with progressively greater
desire/need for ideas, facts, etc.

But a critical problem is how to disseminate - Harvard CRP is having
trouble, for example. We do get quite a few hits to our NCLB stuff on the
web, but we've no other vehicle for mass dissemination.

In theory the PTA would - but they are staying hands off on NCLB.

The NEA can disseminate widely to teachers - what I do not know since I do
not get it, is what have they done especially in NEA Today which goes to
every member. A campaign to get members to educate parents would be a good
idea - some of that has probably been done. But that also leads to, what
will people do? It is a lot easier to get people to pay attention if they
believe there is action connected to it - otherwise it is often just
depressing or overwhelming.

The AFT can also, and they are taking some steps, certainly as compared with
a year ago - and I've no detailed knowledge on what they are doing or how.

CCE just published their fall Education Organizer newsletter - it is not yet
on their website - and it has a strong piece on local organizing linking
NCLB, high-stakes testing, privatization and gentrification.

Any means to get on widely-listened to TV or radio would be a great hook -
but how to do that?

Monty
_________________________________

Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 17:32:22 -0800
Subject: Re: How to Talk to Parents About NCLB

I have done a bunch of such workshops, but mostly as an "expert
outsider" who was invited in by teachers or parents, or who did the
contacting myself and got myself invited. It was safe for me because
I was not a district employee. We usually did the presentations in
non-school facilities or in private houses in order to avoid school
district interference or harassment directed at the teachers or
parents. I have overheads I can send as attachments to private
individuals. They're pretty self-explanatory. Nothing
complicated. Mostly about the bogus nature of the "scientific"
research on reading and the invalidity of using single measures to
evaluate teachers.

My recommendation: we academics must do some "praxis" by providing
such workshops as invited experts where teachers are scared or
intimidated. Lots of folks are still unduly impressed by the PhD, so
we might as well serve as hired guns for the downtrodden teachers.

Pete Farruggio

Here are mine:

This is an interesting but frustrating conversation to read. Especially since I have written this recent e-mail to fairtest and received no response, not even automated...

"I am fighting a battle that I am afraid I can not win without help. What would it take to have the opportunity to have members of your organization come to our community to alert and inform the community about the urgency of the harm being done in our schools.

Please respond,"

I have also written to several more of you on this list...but it seems to me that you are so busy in the debate of the issues that you have gotten lost in a place where you reach a closed audience of other like-minded academicians and although your editorials and opinions are eloquent and absolutely crucial, they are being read by your peers and have little chance of reaching the very people who need convincing...

My children are schooled in a large county system just outside of Washington, DC. The superintendent, who is a perfect inoculate and example of the manner in which this very edu-cancer in discussion metastasizes, has resigned. The county board of education seems squashed between the very strong voice of the business community and the very fragmented desires of an uninformed public.

The public or the parents are innocently stranded by the media-perpetuated statistical campaign; the only way they half-way know ( if they even know, ) how to discuss school issues is in the language of the NCLB. That is, they are stuck on debates of proof of progress with details of expanded advanced placement enrollment and ayp scores and standard test scores. They have no reference with which to leap into understanding that tests are unsound or teachers are asked to manipulate their outcomes or that testing limits the scope of learning or curriculum. They have no way to understand or accept the rapid destruction being perpetrated in our schools by all of the details and issues we understand; and I understand because I spend hours making a point of understanding, you understand because it is your career...

As you well know, the teachers are pertrified. They also have no time or energy left after accomplishing the mandated requirements of meeting goals and battling test and measurement protocol. Their unions and associations are busy with the often defeated battles of salary increase and work load and disciplinary crisis'.

The time is here and ripe, it seems to me, to come into a community in such an opportune moment and at such a crucial regional presence in relation to Washington and apply some of your academic passion to a real-life situation calling out with opportunity.

I am one voice, I am one parent. Tell me how you will help me. This is our chance...